Northanger Abbey

By: Jane Austen

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson

Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

When Catherine Morland, a country clergyman's daughter, is invited to spend a season in Bath with the fashionable high society, little does she imagine the delights and perils that await her. Captivated and disconcerted by what she finds, and introduced to the joys of "Gothic novels" by her new friend, Isabella, Catherine longs for mystery and romance. When she is invited to stay with the beguiling Henry Tilney and his family at Northanger Abbey, she expects mystery and intrigue at every turn. However, the truth turns out to be even stranger than fiction.

©2006 Naxos AudioBooks (P)2006 Naxos AudioBooks

It is Jane Austen, need I say more?

A sweet and twisting tale of love, misunderstandings and the excitement of youth. I always feel elevated after a Jane Austen novel, like I did something good for myself!

Delightful!

Juliet Stevenson is marvelous. Her reading brings this witty and humorous tale to life. Absolute perfection. And Austen is brilliant as always.

I loved it, but chapters don't line up.

The only thing wrong with this is that the chapters don't line up at all. The narrator announced "Chapter 14" when the book said "Chapter 8". That made keeping my place difficult, and making frequent bookmarks VERY important whenever I had to stop the book.

The narrator has the perfect voice for this book -- very like the voice of Jane Austen in the J.J. Field/Felicity Jones adaptation.

Overall, enjoyed the book, but annoyed by the formating. Still worth listening to, though.

escape

Jane Austin is such a wonderful escape from everyday life. She had such a way with words, and characters.

Delightful reading of a comic novel

Juliet Stevenson’s voice is perfectly over-excited, ironic, or dry to match each character! Never had to wait to the end of a phrase or sentence to understand who was speaking nor why.

Excellent narration of a classic

There's nothing like a Jane Austin novel to demonstrate the family values of the Regency period in England. This story, of a rather sheltered young woman and her wild imagination, shows the horrors of reading too many novels. Plenty of humor throughout and misunderstandings galore. Absolutely top shelf narration is the icing on the cake.

Flawless performance

A Jane Austen classic comes to life through the brilliant narration of Ms. Stevenson, providing a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience!

Love the story, beautifully narrated

Juliet Stevenson does a fantstic job with each character. She conveys their unique personalities beautifully. I love this story and enjoyed this audiobook. I highly recommend anything read by Juliet Stevenson.

Short and sweet

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes I would, light and fun, it is a quick read but a journey with enjoying

What did you like best about this story?

The fun made of the style of novel prevalent at the time of writing is both entertaining and sharp

Have you listened to any of Juliet Stevenson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Several, she is wonderful and as such I hunt down her performances

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Enjoyable in one setting or split over several, worth a couple of listens either way.

Under-appreciated Gothic Austen Satire

"Northanger Abbey" is a delightful read and probably one of my favorite Jane Austen tales. This actually is Austen's first novel that she wrote, though it was published after she passed away, so though Austen might not be happy with the published version that we read, it's lighthearted tone makes it an especially accessible one.

Catherine Morland is a young woman on her first excursions beyond the confines of her (rather large) nuclear family, and has to navigate positive and negative social influences while visiting Bath with some family friends over the course of the summer. There is a bit of "Emma" in this regard, but also a tad of Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield", but I found the stakes more consequential (in contrast to the former) and appreciated the brevity of their delivery (in contrast to the latter).

There are times when Austen will break the fourth wall, and say things like "and now we see our heroine contemplating the next choices in her life". While these sentences did distance me from the characters, they did not bother me too much, and I forgave Austen for them because this was her first novel and it was published after she died, so she couldn't really spruce it up into a final polished version. And while much of this is a satire of the gothic genre, Austen goes into a mini-rant on the merits of reading novels (which apparently weren't taken too seriously in her day), which I found extremely satisfying. I can just picture Austen using some of those points in her daily life when being asked to explain why she took up novel-writing.

I enjoyed the humor and the wit in this narrative, and I will remember the characters for quite a while. Ms. Morland's world is a vivid one, and Austen thrives at painting a small cast with clarity and detail. I was pleasantly surprised with this classic, and will be looking to other Austen books to put on my To Read list.